Archie Spoodle/ cockapoo meets a Pony up close, Australia. VIDEO

Knowing that he is a retriever who likes to fetch, but not harm his prey, I trusted that on lead he would potentially be able to desensitise himself from some up close viewing.

One of the more amazing things about this is how fast my dog goes from pulling at full strength to slowly wanting to just sniff these 'very large dogs'.

You will see in the video that it doesn't take long before he is more interested in their poo than the actual animal.

That said, these pets do not necessarily know that Archie did not mean them any harm, and they can have a deadly kick for small animals, so I obviously had to keep the lead fairly tight on my dog.

If you have a non aggressive dog that is not scared of large animals, and you know their previous experience with meeting some larger tame animals, sometimes a close highly supervised visit is ideal to desensitise your dog.

This is not recommended for everyone and every dog, and we did have direct permission from the pony handlers. It did make the rest of the day much more comfortable for everyone concerned.

Article by Bruce Dwyer. Like this article? Then please use a LINK reference to www.dogwalkersmelbourne.com.au

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